THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The concept for Who Believes In Angels? was devised by a team of close friends and collaborators — pop-rock icon Elton John, 11-time Grammy-winning superstar Brandi Carlile and multiple Grammy-winning producer and songwriter Andrew Watt. They set out to create a true collaborative album between Elton and Brandi. The LP would spotlight both artists, with Elton’s longterm collaborator Bernie Taupin and Brandi both contributing lyrics, and Watt acting as producer, mediator and creative conduit.
Entering L.A’s Sunset Sound Studios in October 2023 with a completely blank slate, they pushed each other out of their comfort zones to write and record an album completely from scratch in just 20 days. They would be backed by a world-class band of musicians — Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Pino Palladino (Nine Inch Nails, David Gilmour) and Josh Klinghoffer (Pearl Jam, Beck).
The results of this creative friction are stunning, and the kaleidoscopic scope of Who Believes In Angels? draws comparisons with some of Elton’s very finest works. Ballads co-exist with raw rock; pop songs and country-hued Americana rub shoulders with synth-heavy psychedelia. It’s an album as unexpected as it is triumphant.
Elton sounds utterly revitalized. Brandi sounds like a singer-songwriter at the top of her game, her voice melding with Elton’s like a hand in a glove. The resulting songs somehow manage to be unequivocally the work of both artists, while sounding unlike any album either have made before.
Elton says: “This record was one of the toughest I’ve ever made, but it was also one of the greatest musical experiences of my life. It has given me a place where I know I can move forward. Who Believes In Angels? feels like going into another era and I’m pushing the door open to come into the future. I have everything I’ve done behind me and it’s been brilliant, amazing. But this is the new start for me. As far as I’m concerned, this is the start of my career Mark 2.”
Brandi says: “I’m still reeling from the fact that I got to do it. I think all ships rise with Elton John’s standards for songwriting, and it was an incredibly challenging and inspiring environment to work in, everybody throwing in ideas, everybody listening to everybody else’s ideas. It felt like a family. The world is a wild place to live in right now. It’s hard to find peace and triumph. It’s a radical act to seek out joyful and euphoric happenings. And that is what this album represents to me.”
